Out-of-Print--contact me for Used copyA triple biography, told largely through their correspondence, of 3 college friends who ultimately went on to literary fame--religious writer Thomas Merton, minimalist poet Robert Lax, and author/photographer/magazine publisher Edward Rice.
Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, and Edward Rice were college buddies who became life-long friends, literary innovators, and spiritual iconoclasts. Their friendship and collaboration began at Columbia College in the 1930s and reached its climax in the widely acclaimed magazine, which ran from 1953 to 1967, a year before Merton's death.. Rice was founder, publisher, editor, and art director; Merton and Lax two of his steadiest collaborators. Well-known on campus for their high spirits, avant-garde appreciation of jazz and Joyce, and indiscriminate love of movies, they also shared their Catholic faith. Rice, a cradle Catholic, was godfather to both Merton and Lax.

This is the first bibliography on Merton in more than 20 years. This bibliography features subdivided lists that classify Merton's books into the following categories: prose works, poetry, letters, edits (by other editors), Merton's translations, contributions to books, visual arts, music selections, and selections and composites. Additionally, there is a special section on rare books.

Unable to leave his home at the Abbey of Gethsemani except on special occasions, Merton developed a unique friendship with this couple from nearby Lexington, Kentucky. Carolyn, who supplied Merton with many of the books he required for his writing and teaching, was a founder of the King Library Press at the University of Kentucky. Victor was an accomplished painter, sculptor, printer, and architect. The friendship and collaborations between Merton and the Hammers reveal their shared interest in the convergence of art, literature, and spirituality.
This trio’s complete correspondence has been collected for the first time. Their letters, arranged chronologically, vividly demonstrate a blossoming intellectual camaraderie and provide a unique opportunity to understand Merton’s evolving philosophies. At times humorous, often profound, the letters shed light on a rare friendship and offer new insights into the creative intellect of Merton.
--A leather-bound edition.. 125.00.

Hardback

$50.00

THOMAS MERTON SELECTED ESSAYS

Merton, Thomas, Edited by Patrick F. O'Connell

It was perhaps in the essay that Merton found his natural element. Especially in the last decade of his life, he showed in his essays an increasing willingness to dispense with pre-fabricated conclusions, bringing his deeply spiritual, profoundly Catholic sensibility to bear on matters beyond the usual religious and monastic milieu.
This volume is the first to provide a broad cross-section of Merton's work as an essayist, collecting pieces that reflect characteristic examples of his astonishing output and the fantastic breadth of his interests. The 33 essays collected here range from interreligious dialogue to racial justice, from the wisdom of the desert fathers to the novels of Faulkner and Camus, from the nuclear threat to the philosophy of solitude, and throughout, the centrality of the Christian mystery to authentic human identity

Out of Print--New, still in unopened plastic wrap. Merton's art has been little seen, and even less understood. In bringing this art to light for the first time, Lipsey, an art critic and historian, opens a new chapter in Merton studies.
Angelic Mistakes presents forty of the most telling examples of Merton's art. Each of the forty pieces is accompanied by an excerpt from Merton's own writing on art—addressing both process and philosophy—some of which have never been published before. The works are visually compelling and a source of rich insights into Merton as an author and man of spirit—as Lipsey shows in his accompanying essays, which detail what the art meant to Merton, how it expresses what he was going through, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s, and what it can mean to us today.
Now Out-of-Print. I have 2 copies left.

This is Volume 2 two of Merton's journals and covers an 11 year period from December 1941 to July 1952. During this period Merton advances to the priest hood and develops his literary career. (The hardbound copy is a first edition, out-of-print copy in fine condition.)

Pearson introduces and brings together both sides of this correspondence, allowing the reader to delight in both the interplay of ideas and inspiration, and the growth of sincere affection that occurred between Merton and the Andrews through their shared vocation.
The correspondence is supplemented by a selection of 32 of Merton's photographs of the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill in Kentucky, newly identified with captions supplied by Pleasant Hill Curator Larrie S. Currie. A review of the Andrews' Shaker Furniture by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy concludes the volume.

Merton honed the art of letter writing. His letter-writing was a personal act of self-revelation and communication. They offer a unique lens through which we relive the spiritual and social upheavals of the twentieth century, while offering wisdom that is still relevant for our world today. This book, like The Intimate Merton for the journals, is the essential collection of letters.

Some of Merton's most lyrical and prayerful writings have been arranged into A Book of Hours, a rich resource for daily prayer and contemplation that imitates the increasingly popular ancient monastic practice of "praying the hours". Deignan has mined Merton's voluminous writings, arranging prayers for Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Dark for each of the days of the week--allowing for a slice of monastic contemplation in the midst of hectic modern life, with psalms, prayers, readings, and reflections.

What held Merton's attention all his life was the notion of unity and wholeness. Labrie examines Merton's letters, journals, & individual works to show the full expanse of his contribution. Labrie covers such sweeping topics as consciousness, self, being, nature, time, myth, culture, and individuation.

Merton spent his literary career in a cloistered monastery in Kentucky. His great counterpart, Jean Leclercq, traveled relentlessly to and from monasteries worldwide, trying to bring about a long-needed reform and renewal of Catholic religious life.
Their correspondence over twenty years is a fascinating record of the common yearnings of two holy men. "What is a monk?" is the question at the center of their exchange, and in these letters they answer it with great aplomb.

This is a 1st Printing 1960 w/dustjacket. Book in very good condition. DJ has minor chips on top & bottom spine, 1/2" tear on bottom back. Normal age fading.
Explores interaction of the active & contemplative life.

These selected letters document the remarkable literary and personal relationship between Merton and Laughlin. They are a fascinating portrait of the times and an important view into the life and mind of Merton.

This small book recalls and celebrates the tragically brief friendship and litrary collaboration that took place between Merton and Jonathan Green. Two essays on Merton provide context for the letters that follow. Their letters coincided with the limited run of Merton's literary magazine, "Monks Pond", and his exchange with Greene reveals two witty minds at work with the earnest joy of language. The book closes with a poignant elegiac poem by Greene.

Hardback

$22.50

MERTON ANNUAL VOL 05

Daggy, Robert , Patrick Hart, Dewey Weiss & Victor Kramer

A continued selection from the work of scholars, critics, & writers studying Merton's growth and development. Articles by Robert Lax, Donald Allchin, and John Dear, SJ, as well as a previously unpublished Merton transcript entitled Man in the Sycamore Tree, A Fragment of an Early Novel are included.

Published in 1979. The author's friendship with Merton of nearly three decades brings a special perception to the study of his verse.

Hardback

$25.00

MERTON ANNUAL VOL 02

Daggy, Robert , Patrick Hart, Dewey Weiss & Victor Kramer

Articles about Merton. Also first appearances of his unpublished, or obscurely published, materials, photographs, & art.

Hardback

$75.00

MERTON ANNUAL VOL 03

Daggy, Robert , Patrick Hart, Dewey Weiss & Victor Kramer

This volume continues to select from the continuing work of scholars, critics, & writers who are fascinated with Thomas Merton's growth and development. Volume III includes the exchange of letters with Dom Jean Leclercq and an interview with Abbot Flavian Burns.

Hardback

$75.00

MERTON ANNUAL VOL 04

Daggy, Robert , Patrick Hart, Dewey Weiss & Victor Kramer

This book follows patterns established in preceding volumes. The range of materials about religion, culture, literature & social concerns reflects Merton's diverse interests as well as the approaches which scholars, writers, & critics bring to bear in subsequent investigations of his work.

The book comprises an edited version of a small fragment of Ruth (Jenkins) Merton’s journal about her son Thomas Merton's progress after his birth. Part of the journal was later sent to her mother-in-law, thus the subtitle: To Granny with Tom's best love, 1916. Any parent who has witnessed the development of their child will relate to the pride and joy of Merton's mother's entries.
There is a short Foreword by Bro Patrick Hart, and an Introduction by Shelia Milton. A journal of the development of a child is not necessarily profound, but the beauty of this book with its handset type on fine paper, hand-fed letterpress printing, and hand binding (both editions are hardbound) transforms it into a lovely work of art to hold the poignant text of the very earliest notations on Merton’s life.

Meditations on certain basic verities of spiritual life. Merton says "the spiritual life is the life of man's real self, the life of that interior self whose flame is so often allowed to be smothered under the ashes of anxiety and futile concern."

Subtitled, Engaged Spirituality in an Age of Globalization, the author traces the journeys of Thomas Merton and Thich Nhat Hanh. Beginning in their own contemplative traditions and evolving through diligent and mindful practice, they found they had much in common and much compassionate work to do in 'the temples of contemporary human experience'.

In this meditation on the poetry of Thomas Merton, the author considers how Merton's poetry was an integral component of his work for peace. But as the term meditation suggests, Smock's examination of the poetry serves as a point of entry into a far broader inquiry, not only into Merton's life and work, but into the necessary engagement of other poets in the work for peace, and into Smock's own development as an artist and a man confronting the world.

The question of Shaker spirituality and its relevance to today's seekers fascinated Merton. He sensed the surprising analogies between the Shakers and his own monastic tradition.
A stunning selection of Merton's photographs from a nearby Shaker village along with his essays, talks, and letters which evoke the Shaker spirit and message of simplicity and peace of heart are brought together for the first time.

HardbackPaperback

$24.00$20.00

SOPHIA / THE HIDDEN CHRIST OF THOMAS MERTON

Pramuk, Christopher

While numerous studies have celebrated Thomas Merton's witness as an interfaith pioneer, poet, and peacemaker, there have been few systematic treatments of his Christology as such, and no sustained exploration to date of his relationship to the Russian "Sophia" tradition. This book looks to Thomas Merton as a "classic" theologian of the Christian tradition from East to West, and offers an interpretation of his mature Christology, with special attention to his remarkable prose poem of 1962, Hagia Sophia. Bringing Merton’s mystical-prophetic vision fully into dialogue with contemporary Christology, Russian sophiology, and Zen, as well as figures such as John Henry Newman and Abraham Joshua Heschel, the author carefully but boldly builds the case that Sophia, the same theological eros that animated Merton’s religious imagination in a period of tremendous fragmentation and violence, might infuse new vitality into our own.

This book can easily be used as a daily reading for contemplation. Merton's words inspire us to look within ourselves, and in the silence of contemplation, "to find and sing our own song".

Hardback

$18.95

ENVIRONMENTAL VISION OF THOMAS MERTON

Weis, SSJ, Monica; Foreword by James Conner, OCSO

Nature was always vital in Thomas Merton’s life, from the long hours he spent as a child watching his father paint landscapes in the fresh air, to his final years of solitude in the hermitage at Our Lady of Gethsemani, where he contemplated and wrote about the beauty of his surroundings.

This daily companion offers Merton's wisdom and spiritual guidance for one's own spiritual journey. Selections are attuned to the seasons and to the movements of Merton's own life. Each month is prefaced by one of Merton's black & white photographs or by one of his Zen-style pen and ink drawings.

In this insightful and challenging collection of essays Rowan Williams turns the powerful searchlight of his remarkable intellect on one of the leading Christian writers of the twentieth century uncovering Merton’s seemingly endless insight into the human condition and our relationship with God and with one another. This little volume is a clarion call to readers to rediscover the breathtaking wisdom of Thomas Merton and his timely relevance for our own century. -Paul M. Pearson, Director and Archivist, Thomas Merton Center, Bellarmine

This 30 year exchange began when Merton returned to New York from a week with Lax's family. The final letter is written by Lax on December 8, 1968. Both men shared with one another their hopes, dreams, triumphs, tragedies, fears, and doubts. Biddle provides chronologies of their lives and unobtrusively places people & events in context within the total of 346 letters. He also includes the text of a rare & lenghty interview with Lax.

Interpretations by Merton with Chinese drawings. His poetic interpretations convey the spirit of the great sage of Taoist thought, Chuang Tzu. Both prose and verse are included as well as a short section from Merton discussing the most salient themes of Chuang Tzu's teachings.Also available in a hardbound gift edition.

"Every moment and every event in every man's life on Earth plants something in his soul," wrote Thomas Merton. He was praised for his meditations and conversations with God, as well as interfaith dialogue, tolerance, and non-violent activism during the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War. Here is a collection of the great monk's work, compiled into a small gift-size edition. With poems, reflections, and social commentary, this is the perfect book to nurture the spirit of faith and duty guided by one of the twentieth century's leading voices of theology and social justice.

Paperback

$13.95

ON EASTERN MEDITATION / THOMAS MERTON

Merton, Thomas, Edited by Bonnie Thurston

Merton's biographer, George Woodcock, once wrote that "almost from the beginning of his monastic career, Thomas Merton tentatively began to discover the great Asian religions of Buddhism and Taoism." Merton, a longtime social justice advocate, first approached Eastern theology as an admirer of Gandhi's beliefs on non-violence. Through Gandhi, Merton came to know the great Hindu text, Bhagavad Gita and in time came to have dialogues with the Dalai Lama and Taoist leader D. T. Suzuki. Merton then became deeply interested in Chuang Tzu and Zen thought. On Eastern Meditation, edited by Bonnie Thurston (author of Merton and Buddhism), gathers the best of his Eastern theological writings into a small 4"x6"
gift book edition.

McDonald invites you to engage art with a contemplative lens. The contemplative examines artwork and experiences knowledge, wisdom and insight. To help guide you, this book features Thomas Merton’s unpublished notes on lectio divina and teaches us about the origin, composition, and spirituality of icons and Song Dynasty paintings. McDonald emphasizes the importance of assimilating contemplation into practice. Can meditating with great works of art help you to pray better and to do God’s will? Yes, she says, “and not only that, you can expect to experience more community, insight, and joy.”

For a time Merton struggled with the notion that the vocation of the monk and the vocation of the writer were incompatible. Monasticism called for complete surrender to the absolute, whereas writing demanded a tactical withdrawal from experience in order to record it. He eventually came to accept his dual vocation as two sides of the same spiritual coin and used it as a source of creative tension the rest of his life.
Merton’s thoughts on writing have never been compiled into a single volume until now. Robert Inchausti has mined the vast Merton literature to discover what he had to say on a whole spectrum of literary topics, including writing as a spiritual calling, the role of the Christian writer in a secular society, the joys and mysteries of poetry, and evaluations of his own literary work. Also included are fascinating glimpses of his take on a range of other writers, including Thoreau, Flannery O’Connor, Dylan Thomas, Albert Camus, James Joyce, and even Henry Miller.

Paperback

$18.95

LIVING WITH WISDOM / A LIFE OF THOMAS MERTON

Forest, Jim

Newly revised edition for the 40th anniversary of Merton's death. Enhanced by the most extensive collection of Merton photographs ever published, this book captures the life, writings, and vision of one of the great spiritual figures of our time--a perfect introduction to Merton's life and work.

Published in book form for the first time, Thomas Merton’s Cold War Letters is a collection of 111 letters to friends, peace activists, artists, and intellectuals, written between October 1961 and October 1962 at the height of Cold War tensions. Originally distributed in mimeographed form (after he was forbidden to publish his thoughts on peace), the letters reflect Merton’s prophetic insight into the crisis of his time. As the world seemed to tumble toward Apocalypse, Merton sought in these letters—uncannily relevant for today—to create a community of concern that might raise a moral counterweight to the forces of fear and destruction.

Merton, Thomas; Edited with an Introduction by Patricia A Burton; Foreword by Jim Forest

Writing at the height of the Cold War, Merton issued a passionate cry for sanity and a challenge to the idea that unthinkable violence can be squared with the Gospel of Christ. Censors of Merton's Trappist Order blocked publication of this work, but forty years later, despite changing circumstances, his prophetic message remains eerily topical. At a time when the "war on terrorism" has replaced the struggle against communism, Merton's work continues to demonstrate the power and relevance of the Gospel in answering the most urgent challenges of our time.

This fifth volume in the highly regarded Fons Vitae Thomas Merton series reveals the depth of the monk’s interests in Taoism and in particular the sage Chuang-Tzu from whose writings Merton selected, translated and presented a work that he called his personal favorite, The Way of Chuang Tzu.
Beautifully illustrated, this volume’s insightful essays by Taoist experts and sinologists Livia Kohn, Lucien Miller, Bede Bidlack, and John Wu, Jr. accompany the complete annotated correspondence between Merton and John Wu, Sr., the Chinese scholar, author, law professor and convert to Catholicism who guided Merton’s encounter with Taoism and acted as midwife to Merton’s interpretation into English of Chuang Tzu’s poetry.

This volume is a concise yet comprehensive "walk" through the years, reflections, feelings, & prayers of Merton, who conceded that "my best writing has always been in journals". It is a condensed version of the seven complete journals.

Paperback

$18.99

THE LIFE OF THE VOWS

Merton, Thomas; Edited by Patrick F O'Connell

This is Vol 6 in the Initiation Into The Monastic Tradition Series.
As novice master, Merton presented weekly conferences to familiarize his charges with the meaning and purpose of the vows they aspired to undertake. In this setting, he offered a thorough exposition of the theological, canonical, and above all spiritual dimensions of the vows.
He addressed such classical themes of Christian morality as the nature of the human person and his acts; the importance of justice in relation to the Passion of Christ, to friendship and to love; and self-surrender as the key to grace, prayer and the vowed life. Merton’s words on these topics clearly spring from a committed heart and often flow with the soaring intensity of style that we have come to expect in his more enthusiastic prose.
The texts of these conferences represent the longest and most systematically organized of any of numerous series of conferences that Merton presented during the decade of his mastership. Abbot Augustin

Paperback

$44.95

THOMAS MERTON & THERESE LENTFOEHR / THE STORY OF A FRIENDSHIP

Nugent, SDS, Robert

This book tells the story of the 20 year (1948-1968) relationship between Merton and Lentfoehr--a published poet, teacher and nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Savior in Wisconsin. She had an important impact on his work both as a personal friend and professional colleague. This book is a chronological narrative and analysis of their relationship carried on primarily through letters and two face-to-face encounters in 1951 and 1967. One finds she was his literary critic, confidant, archivist, publicist and typist for many of his works.

Paperback

$14.95

THOMAS MERTON: 20TH CENTURY WISDOM FOR 21ST CENTURY LIVING

Dekar, Paul R, Foreword by Paul M Pearson

This book explores Merton's prophetic writings and experience as they offer guidance for spiritual seekers in their search to experience God, to simplify their lives, to live more humanly, and to shape Christian community in the face of alienation, consumerism, noise, and technology. The book includes parts of three previously unpublished conference contributions by Merton on technology.

An accessible introduction to Merton's works arranged in four sections. The collection of short, vivid excerpts comprise 1) Real and False Selves, 2) The World We Live In, 3) Antidotes to
Illusion, and 4) Love in Action. There is no doubt that Merton's writings are as relevant today as they were in his lifetime.

Paperback

$16.95

INNER EXPERIENCE / NOTES ON CONTEMPLATION

Merton , Thomas; Edited by William H Shannon

The long awaited writings of Merton's on contemplation edited by William Shannon. This Inner Experience makes an enormously valuable contribution to Merton's works. Merton draws on the great Christian traditions that he knew so well, and particularly on the Eastern traditions--especially Buddhism.

Merton’s letters to interfaith friends illuminate the great challenge of dialogue and communion.
During the last decade of his life, Thomas Merton corresponded with numerous people around the globe about world religions and the need for interfaith understanding. Initiating contact with figures like Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Rabbi Abraham Heschel, he sought not only to expand his understanding of other faiths, but to find like-minded friends who might share his dream of a global community of the spirit. Such people, whom he called living “sacraments” or signs of peace, were those “able to unite in themselves and experience in their own lives all that is best and most true in the numerous spiritual traditions.”

Paperback

$22.00

THOMAS MERTON ENCYCLOPEDIA

Shannon, William H, Christine M. Bochen, & Patrick F. O'Connell

An invaluable resource for serious Merton readers. Lawrence Cunningham says "an irresistible volume for browsing for the sheer enjoyment of it." Includes 350 entries and 50 illustrations. Essays cover all of Merton's published writings, the essential themes from his ouevre, the individuals who were important in his life, and the places where he lived out his life.

Examines the life, poetry, letters, and dreams of Thomas Merton using Jungian archetypes. The result reveals a monk—and the man within—and his struggles with “the true self.

Paperback

$17.95

IN THE DARK BEFORE THE DAWN

Merton, Thomas; Preface by Kathleen Norris; Edited by Lynn R. Szabo

Until now, no single selection from his great body of poetry has afforded a comprehensive view of his varied and progressively innovative work. This book is not only a gathering double the size of Merton's earlier Selected Poems (1967), it also arranges his poetry both thematically and chronologically, so that readers can follow the poet's many complex, interrelated lines of thought as well as his poetic development over the decades. "His genius," writes editor Lynn R. Szabo, "was to create an artistic vision fueled by the conflict between his calling as a writer and his vocation as a contemplative.” She has grouped her selections under a number of themes, which taken together "represent seminal aspects of Merton's engaging his inner and outer worlds throughout his life." Included in this broad,new selection are most of the beautiful love poems (previously available only in a limited edition) that Merton wrote for a young woman to whom he had formed a brief attachment in the mid-'60s.

Forty years after his death, fans of Thomas Merton--from a wide array of faith traditions--continue to consult the spiritual wisdom found in his voluminous writings. Merton called Seasons of Celebration his "liturgy book" and this edition includes a new foreword by renowned Merton scholar William H. Shannon. These essays remain timely in view of the ongoing liturgical renewal initiated by Vatican II and are a must-read for those seeking to deepen their grasp of the liturgy and the cycles of the Church year.

Paperback

$17.95

HIDDEN IN THE SAME MYSTERY: THOMAS MERTON AND LORETTO

Thurston, Bonnie, General Editor; Sr Mary Swain, SL, Loretto Editor

By including the texts of talks Thomas Merton gave to the novices at the Loretto Motherhouse, Hidden in the Same Mystery presents previously unpublished Merton materials which are a rich source of his thinking on prayer and on religious life.
Included are some of Sr. Mary Luke Tobin’s incisive thoughts about Merton, particularly her analysis of Merton on prayer. The book, describing the friendship between Merton and Tobin, and illustrated with photos of Merton, Tobin, Gethsemani, and Loretto, will appeal to Merton scholars, women religious, and those interested in Kentucky church history.

Just after Thomas Merton's death in 1968, Catholic social activist Catherine de Hueck Doherty wrote to Merton's abbot: "In some strange mysterious way I never quite understood, [he] was in part my spiritual son." The friendship originated when Merton worked at Friendship House in Harlem, and this volume of warm, candid correspondence traces nearly three decades of friendship through thirty-one surviving letters--fourteen written by Merton, and seventeen by Doherty. Doherty's previously unpublished letters are now brought together with those of Merton. The exchange reveals Merton's development from a young man searching for his place in God's plan, to a monk seeking God through solitude and work for social justice.

This book is the initial volume in a series of Novitiate Conferences of Thomas Merton. It contains his insights on patristic and monastic figures preceding the time of St Benedict, above all John Cassian, the most significant bridge between the early desert fathers and the monastic life of the West. They reveal the continuing relevance of their teachings for contemporary monastics and other Christians.
These class notes prepared by Merton cast light on Merton the teacher, novice master, and monk.

Porter explores some of the many facets of Merton: the contemplative and activist, the poet, the reader, translator, tone setter, letter writer, intellectual, lover, synthesizer, and the journal keeper. This engaging work will intrigue those versed in Merton lore and fascinate those who are meeting Merton for the first time.

In his novitiate conferences on the Rule of Saint Benedict, Merton introduces young men embarking on monastic life to the guiding document of that life. He emphasizes the importance of considering the Rule from a perspective that is neither narrowly legalistic nor overly intellectualized, but marked rather by commitment to the goal of Benedictine monasticism, which is not just to obey the Rule but to love and serve God. The Benedictine life, according to Merton, is "simply living the Gospel without fanfare. . . . The mainspring of everything in St. Benedict is the love of Christ—in Himself, in the poor, in the monastic community, in the individual brethren. . . . This is the key to the monastic life and spirit." Merton gives particular attention to the prologue, in which he finds "the theological foundation of the whole spiritual doctrine of St. Benedict"; key chapters on the abbot and the monastic community, including consideration of monastic work, spiritual reading, and poverty; and

Merton discusses how we have become strangers to ourselves through our dependence on outward identity and success, all the while overlooking our real need: a concern with the image of God within ourselves.

The spiritual & psychological insights of these essays were nurtured in a monastic milieu, but their issues are universally human. Our desire and need to attain "a fully human and personal identity" is the focus of Merton's concern.

Now out-of-print, Volume Six of the Merton Journals brings us to the years 1966-1967. It is the most revealing & unpredictable period. Falling in love causes great struggles in reconciling this unexpected love with his monastic vows. He expresses anger at wars and outrage at racisim. He is at his intellectual peak & carries on an active global correspondence.

Charged with training young monks at Gethsemani Abbey, Thomas Merton combined his literary genius and his love of the monastic tradition to produce Monastic Orientation Notes as the bases of his classes. In this volume, he treats the many and varied forms of monastic life which preceded, and helped to form, the Rule of Saint Benedict.

Volume 3 of the Merton Journals comprising the years 1952-1960 chronicles his search for a more authentic experience of the divine and of community that led him to explore Zen, existentialism, and the exciting developments in Latin American Christianity.

The mission of the Annual has been broadened to make more connections between Merton's vision and the contemporary world of scholarship. This volume includes articles by E Glenn Hinson, Rosemary Haughton, & Patrick O'Connell.

Volume 4 of the Journals encompassing the years 1960-1963. In candid, lively, deeply revealing passages, we feel the growing unrest of the '60s, a time when Merton finds himself struggling between his longing for a private, spiritual life and the irresistible pull of social concerns.

This book was first published in 1978. It is the playful exchange of letters between the two contemplatives whose friendship began at Columbia University and flourished for 27 years. Merton adds Zen drawings; Lax, experimental poems.

Let the words of Trappist monk Thomas Merton lead you through the holy season of Lent and into Easter. The author was known for his journaling skills. With that in mind, the daily format includes an explanation of one facet of the season, followed by Mertons' writings, appropriate Scripture passages and a daily journal topic to encourage your own thoughts related to Lent and Easter.

Merton's final testament as a poet. It is his most ambitious long work and a remarkable poetic achievement. It was completed in 1968 a few months before he set out from Kentucky on the Asian journey from which he did not return.

Volume Seven of the Merton Journals finds him exploring new territory, both spiritual and geographic. Merton enjoys a new freedom that brings with it a rich mix of solitude, spirited friendship & interaction with monks of other traditions.

Paperback

$17.95

THOMAS MERTON'S AMERICAN PROPHECY

Inchausti, Robert

The author provides a succinct summary and original interpretation of Merton' contirbution to American thought. He lifts Merton out of the isolation of his monastic culture and brings him back into dialogue with contemporary secular thinkers.

Vol 5 of the Merton journals covers the period from 1963-1965. During this period he challenges the powers that be in Gethsemani & Washington, while exploring every spiritual, literary, and personal link to a more meaningful active life. He strives as never before for inner peace.

An updated anthology, this volume contains substantial selections from Merton's prose writing. There are excerpts from his journals, reflections on monasticism, on Eastern religions, and on the place of spirituality in contemporary life.

Like his beautifully crafted letters and journals, Merton's prayers and drawings reveal his multifaceted personality, his hunger for God and his passion for providing others with a glimpse of the path to union with God. Merton's black-and-white line drawings along with the monk's prayers, most of which have been previously published are printed on facing pages.

This book provides a comprehensive and inspiring account of Merton's interest in the spirituality of the Eastern Orthodox Church, especially the practice of the prayer of the heart. Among other writers included are Kallistos Ware, Gray Henry, James Curtsinger, A.M. Allchin, and John Eudes Bamberger

Merton's introduction and translations of early Christian hermits. He espouses no special system, order or purpose but to merely have the stories and to enjoy them with friends. A lovely gift edition in hardbound now available.

By meditating on personal examples from the author's life, as well as reflecting on the inspirational life and writings of Thomas Merton, stories from the Gospels, as well as the lives of other holy men and women (among them, Henri Nouwen, Therese of Lisieux and Pope John XXIII) the reader will see how becoming who you are, and becoming the person that God created, is a simple path to happiness, peace of mind and even sanctity.

The author weaves the story of four writers (Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy) as a pilgrimage as they explore the quandaries of religious faith through their writings. It is a story about the ways we look to great books and writers to help us make sense of our experience, about the power of literature to change--to save--our lives.

The psalms being hymns of praise only reveal their full meaning to those who use them in order to praise God.

Paperback

$6.95

ESSENTIAL WRITINGS OF CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM

McGinn, Bernard, Edited by

This clear and comprehensive anthology, culled from the vast corpus of Christian mystical literature by the renowned theologian and historian Bernard McGinn, presents nearly one hundred selections, from the writings of Origen of Alexandria in the third century to the work of twentieth-century mystics such as Thomas Merton.
Uniquely organized by subject rather than by author, The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism explores how human life is transformed through the search for direct contact with God. Part one examines the preparation for encountering God through biblical interpretation and prayer; the second part focuses on the mystics’ actual encounters with God; and part three addresses the implications of the mystical life, showing how mystics have been received over time, and how they practice their faith through private contemplation and public actions.

Readers can journey with Merton on a seven-day retreat, meditating on the best of his contemplative writings & studying select photos taken by Merton himself. Step by step the author guides the reader to a greater awareness of self, of Christ, and of the wider world.

Contemplation is the single strand that binds together the life & work of Merton. Shannon traces the development of Merton's thought on the subject. He provides incisive commentary and substantial excerpts from The Inner Experience.